Laphroaig 25yo, b.2015, 46.8% abv.

I actually didn't remember the Laphy 25s were a vat of first fill Oloroso sherry and ex-American oak casks. The CS 25s, I think only the first 2007 or 2008 one was not CS, have all been pretty good. Let's see what I wrote.

Nose: a very light sherry-like nose (is this a sherry casked?), fresh cherries, maple syrup, a little salty, some smoke, but mostly syrup sweet, like sugar. Why do I usually get cherries with these Laphy 25s?

Palate: a little smooth, light bodied, starts off a little sour, mid palate gets dry, honey sweet, more syrup sweetness oriented, cinnamon, way back in back palate has some smoked wood but it is very feint, some smoked chocolate. Overall a very interesting Laphroaig flavor body. Quite flavorful.

Finish: short, light maple syrup, light honey.

That nose was very unexpected. It's essentially a design around a syrup whisky base. Quite tasty. I couldn't taste much smoke, almost none, but perhaps that was influenced by a Laga 12 I just had, which had stronger, although still weak, smokey aromas and body. This felt like a strong rum now that I think about it. Going to be conservative.

Grade: B-

Whiskyanalysis.com, 9.10 ± 0.27 on 19 reviews for unknown vintage
Whiskyfun, Angus MacRaild, sgp:574, 90 points

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

🇭🇰 🇺🇸(LA, SF) -> 🇯🇵 (京都, 東京) -> 🇰🇷 (서울, 부산)